[Bear]

Hunted yotes til dark up on the mountian. No luck. Fresh snow last night and nothing moving yet. Headed down the hill towards home (7 miles), made it to the pavement and about two more miles. Road is still a solid sheet of packed snow 2 weeks after the snowfall.

Was doing about 30 in 4wd, and out of someones driveway comes a LITTLE deer. He stopped in the middle of the road and I hit the brakes as soft as I could and immediately let off when all four tires locked up. So much for antilock breaks.

BAM! Took him right between the headlights (mine) and felt him bounce along under the truck all the way out the back.

Boy, it took a while to stop what with the slick street. The county REALLY needs to throw more sand at it, but then we wouldn`t have money to give the welfare types, haha. Just kidding, I think.

Took a look and danged if it wasn`t a mercy killing. He has the hair loss disease and was as small a deer as I`ve ever seen this time of year. Skin and bones. He wasn`t even heavy enough to bend the Dodge bumper. I sorta had an idea about FRESH backstraps.

Guess we did him a favor and got bobcat bait to boot. A fine day at work thank you.

 

[doughboy]

What is Hair loss Disease? Never heard of that. Just curious

 

[Egb6ppc]

When you hit them with a Dodge truck the hair falls off --- along with lots of other stuff --- He he he ---

Gene

 

[Bear]

Here`s some links and good info. The Wash Dept of Fish and Wildlife has SAT ON THEIR ASS regarding this issue. I cannot find the link but a Western Wash team caught and innoculated 5 or so Blacktail deer with antibiotics and the hairloss was gone FAST. They did not have PERMISSION to do this so the dept ignored their findings. They SAY they don`t know what causes it, but they THINK it is a parasite.
The deer here are tipping over like flies. If HLS does not get them the cougers do. There are plenty of volunteers that would be glad to take training for using dart guns and hunt down any rough looking (HLS is REAL obvious) deer and give them a shot. I suspect they have more "Hunters" than they needed.

When it comes to fish and wildlife, THIS STATE SUCKS!

Why do they not care? Your guess is as good as mine.

http://www.jwildlifedis.org/cgi/content/full/40/3/444

Hair loss syndrome (HLS) has been observed in western Washington (USA) since 1996. During subsequent years, the extent and frequency of occurrence have spread throughout western Washington and Oregon (USA); by 1999, deer in virtually all lower elevation sites (<610 m) in Washington west of the Cascade Mountain crest were affected (Fig. 1), although HLS is infrequently observed above about 610 m. Prior to observations in Washington in 1996, HLS apparently had not been described in black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus). However, hair loss because of heavy winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) infestations frequently has been observed in moose (Alces alces) populations (McLaughlin and Addison, 1986; Samuel, 1991).

Deer affected with HLS typically manifest clinical signs of hair loss, emaciation, and lethargy beginning in late fall or early winter (November–December). Prevalence of HLS has ranged as high as 74% in fawns and 33% in does in western Washington (Table 1). Clinical signs are most common in fawns; 68% of reports of HLS from 1996 to 2000 were fawns (L. Bender, unpubl. data). Causes of HLS are unknown. However, affected fawns had heavy infestation of lung parasites (likely Dictyocaulus spp. and larval- Parelaphostrongylus odocoilei, the latter previously unreported in Washington) combined with heavy infestations of biting lice (Foreyt et al., 2004). Significant licking and biting of lice-infested areas by affected deer likely results in hair loss by self-mutilation with secondary hyperpigmentation and hyperkeratosis of the skin. Hair loss from self-mutilation by excessive grooming has also been reported in moose with winter tick infestations (Samuel, 1991; Mooring and Samuel, 1999). In Washington, almost all mortality associated with HLS has been among fawns, with hypothermia and malnutrition the common causes of death (B. Hall, unpubl. data). Similarly, emaciation and death from hypothermia and malnutrition were seen in moose suffering hair loss because of winter tick infestation (McLaughlin and Addison, 1986; Del Giudice et al., 1997). In early summer, affected deer molt into summer pelage and lose signs of HLS.








http://wdfw.wa.gov/factshts/hairloss.htm

 

[CatShooter]

My Dodge Van didn't fair as well with a 170 pound buck - the both lost the fight

Bear...
.. that was more information than I needed before breakfast. I think I'll go back to bed for a while and start the day all over again - HLS = Yuck


.

 

[doughboy]

Probably dont want to spend there budget on a NON ENDANGERED species,get no points and extra funds for that. Wheres the outcry from the tree huggers. OOOps,get them involved and they will want to shut down hunting season, will blame it all on animal stress due to hunting.
OK, all pessemism gone !
Have a great day, I am going to
Mike F.

 

[bigjohn]

I expected to see this set of pics. They have been on the web a while!
http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Insurance/DeerDodge.htm